The Mandalorian could become part of a more expansive Star Wars universe

Like the cinematic universes of comic book franchises, The Mandalorian’s Ginacarlo Esposito teases that this may come to the world of Star Wars with future seasons.

Fans were thrilled when the trailer for the second season of the hit Disney+ series, The Mandalorian, was released earlier this month. While it’s about a month’s wait until the season’s October 30 premiere, Giancarlo Esposito, who plays the villain Moff Gideon on the show, announced that this is just the beginning for how far The Mandalorian is going to go.

In an interview with People magazine before the 2020 Emmys, Esposito said, “We’re living in a universe that is huge and [that has] so much to explore. So I think this show is going to start to lay the groundwork for the depth and breadth that’s going to come in season three and season four, where you’re really gonna start to get answers.”

The Mandalorian has been a huge success for Disney’s streaming platform. It was considered TV’s, “most in-demand series in the world,” according to Forbes. It won seven Primetime Emmy awards, including Outstanding Special Visual Effects and Outstanding Cinematography for a Single-Camera Series (Half-Hour), and was even nominated for Outstanding Drama Series. In addition to that, with the season two trailer getting millions of views in less than a week, the buzz surrounding the next chapter in the legacy of the Star Wars franchise does not seem to be fading anytime soon. Plus, it’s hard to resist the adorableness of the Child aka Baby Yoda.

While season three has already been confirmed, season four has not been confirmed yet — although, given the series’ popularity, it’s not too far off to think that it will happen.

Esposito’s tease of a “huge” universe connects with some of the other hints he dropped about the upcoming season.

He went on to say, “The next season of The Mandalorian is going to be very interesting because you’re going to start to find out the power of The Child, [and] what The Child really means…You will also start to uncover the origins of the Darksaber that Moff Gideon has and how that plays into previous Star Wars history connected to The Clone Wars and other shows. And you’ll start to get a real dramatic sense of the territory.”

It appears that future episodes will tie in more deeply with other stories under the Star Wars banner. Not only was there a tease of a connection between The Mandalorian with the popular CG-animated series  Star Wars: The Clone Wars, there may be a conection with the newer animated series, Star Wars: Rebels, with the fact that the Darksaber makes its first appearence in it.

The Darksaber is an ancient weapon, which in Star Wars: Rebels was created by “the first Mandalorian member of the Jedi order,” Tarre Viszla. It ends up in the hands of Moff Gideon in The Mandalorian; yet another conection between The Mandalorian and other Star Wars series, which leaves the door wide open for an even bigger universe. This is even before mentioning the fact that Ahsoka Tano from The Clone Wars  is set to make an appearence in season two.

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The idea of a shared universe in film and television is not a new one. It has origins dating as far back as the era of the Universal Monster films in the 1930s crossing over such characters as Dracula, The Invisible Man, The Wolf Man, and Frankenstein. Television is also famous for crossovers, including recent examples such as the Chicago or Law & Order franchises.

However, the popularity of a shared universe especially grew when comic book films began using them in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and DC Extended Universe.  Even though movies like Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol 1, Doctor Strange, and Black Panther feature different protagonists and previously unconnected characters, they all exist in the same universe and eventually cross over in such films as Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. There are even tie-ins with Marvel television shows and comic books.

The MCU has become one of the most popular and lucrative franchises in film history, and it seems completely reasonable that the Star Wars franchise will want to take the same route.

From The Mandalorian and Rebels, to The Clone Wars and even films outside of the episodic trilogies such as Rogue One and Solo: A Star Wars Story, Star Wars seems to already be setting the ground work for an expansion into an extended universe. As opposed to only creating sequels to films, an extended universe connects characters who have never met before in other films. They all fall under the same umbrella, whether it is DC, Marvel, Star Wars, James Bond, or even extended universes in television such as The CW’s Arrowverse or the planned Game of Thrones spin-offs.

Even though there are currently no more new films in any Star Wars trilogies, it looks as though the adventures of Star Wars are just getting started as the possibility of a Star Wars extended universe looks to be even more possible.

What do you think of The Mandalorian being part of a much larger Star Wars story? Sound off in the comments below!